Curing Viruses

Once a plant, any plant, is infected with a virus, it is infected for life. Science has not found a way to eradicate viruses from growing plants. In the laboratory it is possible to take certain plant tissues and through manipulation produce virus-free progeny. This is a precise, time-consuming and costly process. It has been used to develop and produce virus-free “mother&rdquor; stock from which more plants can be propagated. This process is not something the backyard gardener can do, however.